CTDWAT: TNA Edition

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Agreed. Face stables are basically hard because mostly all they want is to be left alone. They're brought together out of a need for survival so all that matters to them is stopping the evil force. They either fail (in which they look weak) or they succeed (in which they have no reason to remain together or present their force). And if the evil heels just end up walking away no worse for wear then there's no great victory.

Personally I long for more face alliances because I think its missing from wrestling. We see heels ally together for various reasons but there's really a bunch of faces who just seem to respect or like each other so they help each other out. Because it would make storytelling a little more difficult. And many bookers (Russo and TNA included) don't seem capable of dealing beyond the cliches.

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Impact set a new ratings record at 1.34 for this past Thursday's show. It peaked at 1.45 for the final quarter hour featuring Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley vs Kurt Angle and Sting.(Sources;Wrestlingobserver.com, and Prowrestling.net.) Very impressive, especially since Impact went up against the first round of The NCAA Basketball Tourney.

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Guess that the house show run this weekend is going to have Angle/Jarrett on top as the main events. Heading to the show in Rochester tomorrow so looking forward to it. The rest of the lineup sounds eh though, ODB (MN worker of course) v. Sojo, Beer Money vs. either 3D or LAX (tables match), Styles vs. Bashir and Suicide vs. Chris Sabin are also announced. Probably a few more matches underneath. No Limit v. LAX perhaps, and who knows what else.

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There is talk that when Frankie Kazarian can return, he will get the Suicide gimmick.

(They could play a cool storyline into Daniels being unmasked and then feuding with Suicide, if that's the case.)

A funny story regarding Kip James and Jackie Moore being dropped and how communication went down. The PPV was scripted with Moore to be grabbing the belts from the desk for the count out on the Destination X title match. Don West ended up giving Beer Money the belts because they needed to make a new plan when Dixie Carter ordered Kip and Moore done as TV characters. They were pulled from television as a budgetary cut. Moore, who worked on the road, was not brought to the PPV. Nothing was said about it because apparently the decision on whether to use them on TV going forward was still being debated, but most likely they were done at least as far as talent went. Kip was at TV and the PPV but was never used. The departure of Jackie Moore will be explained on future TV shows as a storyline that it shows Beer Money is now getting serious.

(Didn't think they needed to let Ms. Jackie go, but Kip James wont be missed, so no loss there.)

The whole Brutus Magnus beating Eric Young and Chris Sabin deal is because Magnus is a Dixie Carter project and the directive is he must be pushed.

(Give me a f'n break....she's literally pulling a Vince there with her adoration for talentless uncoordinated big oafs.)

The whole Samoa Joe costume deal is that the company made him a new costume as part of a makeover for him of sorts. The plan with the new outfit was not to bury Joe, not intentionally at least. In fact, the idea was that this new outfit would make him a bigger star than ever before. Joe also did put on weight when he was off, so that didn't help things either.

They’ve toned down the Don West heel turn per orders from the top. That was quick. They felt they went too far with it and had to get it under control. The way it was at the PPV and TV is where they want it, with West playing subtle heel. I guess they recognized it was getting in the way of selling the product. West is more of a heel only when The Beautiful People are out there and also when the babyfaces do something outrageously stupid. Honestly, making Tenay stick up for the faces in those situations still buries Tenay’s credibility as the lead announcer having a connection with the viewing audience is almost a necessity to build a product.

Traci Brooks suffered an injury to one of her implants this past week while visiting troops in the Middle East. She was firing a machine gun and the shell kicked back, fell down into her shirt and burned the implant pretty bad.

Regarding the World X Cup, not much has been talked about regarding it. It’s a major headache because it requires working with international groups, and it’s not an if, but how often there will be communication issues, mistrust, double-crossing and screw-ups. Last year, there was an agreement that to make the thing become bigger, that CMLL would host the entire tournament which would then be aired on Impact as well, to give it a different look. Given that CMLL used no TNA wrestlers on its PPV over the weekend, who knows where the relations between the two companies stand? Plus, TNA’s style would be more conducive these days to AAA, but there is the Konnan factor that would hold up any working relationship there.

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Traci Brooks suffered an injury to one of her implants this past week while visiting troops in the Middle East. She was firing a machine gun and the shell kicked back, fell down into her shirt and burned the implant pretty bad.

While that wording is hilarious, I feel for her. I had an AR-15 shell casing kick into my wife beater before, shit burned like a mofucker and left a pretty decent scar.

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Well went to my first TNA house show last night.....an underwhelming show in terms of the workrate (alot of guys were just kind of phoning it in although guys like Styles and Angle seemed to work alright) but in terms of how the company gets the fans to feel more a part of the show, A ++ job there. They were giving out backstage passes all night for the loudest fans, and then at the end of the show, alot of the roster came out and took pictures and signed autographs with people around ringside. They were doing pictures with 3D in the ring for $20 a pop, which seemed to be a real hit too with the fans. Angle/Jarrett and Bashir/Styles were the matches of the night easily, but nothing ppv calibur in the same breath. Thinking this is just carny talk, but Borash claimed they are "90 percent sure" they are coming back to Minnesota later in the year for a pay per view. I would imagine if they do come back, it won't be in Rochester though, since this was a small arena that only probably got 1,000 people or maybe 1,500 in attendance.

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"Regarding the World X Cup, not much has been talked about regarding it. It’s a major headache because it requires working with international groups, and it’s not an if, but how often there will be communication issues, mistrust, double-crossing and screw-ups. Last year, there was an agreement that to make the thing become bigger, that CMLL would host the entire tournament which would then be aired on Impact as well, to give it a different look. Given that CMLL used no TNA wrestlers on its PPV over the weekend, who knows where the relations between the two companies stand? Plus, TNA’s style would be more conducive these days to AAA, but there is the Konnan factor that would hold up any working relationship there. "

Maybe I'm imagining things...but I thought they did the X Cup every 2 years... Which means it wouldn't come up again until mid-2010.

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Totally agreed, Angle came out last night and, like every match, you could tell he was in that mode he gets of sorts. Defiantely was pushing Jarrett as much as he could, that's for sure.

On a side note, Angle has gotten considerably smaller from the last time I saw him live (which of course was in WWE days, near the end of his run there) but almost to the point where the referee (it was Rudy Charles, I believe) was larger than him. He's gotta be hovering only around the 200 pound mark from the looks of things. Lots of people commenting about that around ringside last night.

I'll try to upload some shots from last night in a bit, by the way. Had 3rd row ringside, so that was a plus.

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Some other notes from the Rochester, MN house show from last night, figured I'd might as well since it was entertaining enough. The arena the show was at actually has held an vast and interesting history of pro wrestling here in the last 20 plus years. Way back when it opened in the mid 80s, AWA came here often, which led to WWE doing a few shows here in the late 80s, including one of those 4 plus hour Wrestling Challenge TV tapings for an entire month of TV, I think this was in 88. At that time, I think that was only the third wrestling show I ever had been to, and at ten years of age, it was quite the fun night if I recall. WWE didn't return to this arena until 2006 (for a Raw house show a few weeks before Mania 22) and then has done a few other house shows here more recently since as well. All of the WWE house shows have been good enough, particularly the show in 06 had a really good Cena/Edge street fight for the WWE title.

The AWA started coming back and in full force in 1990 and 91, as they taped here every other weekend for the ESPN show they had. They were here for well over an entire year every other week. Went to most of those shows as well and even as a young kid, those were fucking hard to sit through, since the company was on it's way downhill very quickly as they were in the midst of all the Team Challenge Series shit, etc. Crowds got extremely anemic near the end. And it was a given that within a few hours into the tapings, you could get a free upgrade to ringside. But looking back (and being able to watch them often these days on ESPN Classic) they certainly were interesting in a total car crash way for the time. Back in 91 as well the LPWA actually had a live ppv, which I remember hearing about, but never going to, and from what I recall, it totally bombed with only 300 people or something.

WCW also had a select few house shows in Rochester in the 90s, including one in late 92, around October I think, that featured Sting and Foley in the main event, ironically enough (I just recollected this during a conversation with someone else who went to that show who was at the TNA event here) and Steamboat, Rude, etc. This was one of the more memorable shows up to this point in my life since I met pretty much everyone who worked that show after the matches when they walked out to their rental cars in the back of the arena and there was no security at all (since it was well an hour after the show was done and everyone had filed out for the most part and it was a Sunday afternoon early show that ended at 3pm that day). Ron Simmons even let us hold the WCW title (this was the belt that only lasted not more than a few years before it merged with the big gold belt) while he signed our magazines and whatnot. We all thought that was the coolest shit ever, of course. Also, Curt Hennig was backstage at the show since he was friends with Rude, and walked out of the arena with him, which is significant only because of the fact that he was working for WWE at that time. So we all thought we were in on some scoop that Hennig was jumping ship only to find out he was just down there so he could see his friend Rude when he was touring close to his stomping grounds. Anyway enough goofy memories of the different shows in this arena the last twenty years, it just brought back all those memories when I went to this TNA show last night.

I literally lucked into getting an awesome seat, third row ringside, as I got to the box office about 15 minutes before the show, and just was going to see what cheap seats they had to just kick back and watch it from a distance because didn't really want to pay $50 for ringside, and since I knew there was going to be tons of open seats in the arena (and that certainly ended up being the case) but someone who had an extra seat just came up to me in line and offered it for the same price I would have paid for an upper deck ticket. So I figured why not. Ended up being a hell of a good seat.

The opener was amazingly slow for the most part between Daniels/Suicide v. Sabin. Not horribly bad by any means, but it was pretty short too. Suicide ended up coming to the ring from the middle of the arena, so that was kind of cool.

ODB got a big pop since she is from Minnesota, but a really bad match with Sojourner Bolt. They tried some really bad comedy spots, keyword tried.

3D against No Limit was pretty one sided for sure, nothing much of a match, didn't even feel like it went 8 minutes. 3D was extremely over, and my god, DVon has just gotten out of shape since he's apparently laid off the juice. Also has got that HGH gut, or whatever its called, really bad.

Styles/Bashir was best match of the night up to this point, part of our section of ringside got a cameltoe chant started out of nowhere right as they were locking up to start the match and both Bashir and Styles were having a hard time from laughing during this, Styles even ackowledged the chant after the match was over when he got on the mic to thank the fans, etc. Pretty solid stuff here, actually.

Beer Money and LAX was entertaining, that's for sure. Good mix of comedy, realistic near falls, and a few good highspots from LAX. Homicide appeared to really not want to be there, but he still worked hard. Beer Money played really strong to the crowd, too

The Jarrett/Angle main event, wasn't nearly as good as their ppv matches were, but it had good heat and I've seen a whole hell of a lot of worse house show main events before. Was hoping for some brawling around the arena a bit, but it still had good spots. Bashir, of all guys, ended up running out to save Angle by giving him Jarrett's guitar. Didn't make a lick of sense at all really. But hey, it's TNA. Jarrett then reverses the deal and Angle takes the guitar shot. 3D then run out and do the obligatory table spot with Bashir to end the show.

I took some really short and grainy video clips from Jarrett/Angle, I'll leave a link for my album to check it out. Some pictures there too from the show, but not a lot of them turned out that good since this was all from my cell. But there's a few decent ones there.

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The Angle being smaller thing is, IMO, the positive finally showing of him leaving the E. The guy is still a fantasitc worker and he doesn't have to be larger than life to pull it off. If he was near death when he gut cut by WWE then we can only look at his TNA run as a success. He's healthier. He's still performing at a top level. And he looks nowhere near death or the destruction that he was rumored to be at. Let's not forget...this was a guy who we read was so far gone that him signing with TNA was a legit shocker. He's OBVIOUSLY changed up his game in the last few years...and like TNA or not...this guy is good. Read into his shrinking what you want...but I think it's good on him.

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The Angle being smaller thing is, IMO, the positive finally showing of him leaving the E. The guy is still a fantasitc worker and he doesn't have to be larger than life to pull it off. If he was near death when he gut cut by WWE then we can only look at his TNA run as a success. He's healthier. He's still performing at a top level. And he looks nowhere near death or the destruction that he was rumored to be at. Let's not forget...this was a guy who we read was so far gone that him signing with TNA was a legit shocker. He's OBVIOUSLY changed up his game in the last few years...and like TNA or not...this guy is good. Read into his shrinking what you want...but I think it's good on him.

I totally agree.......it's nothing but a good thing that he is the way he is right now, and it certainly doesn't appear that he's in any sort of health risk at all anymore.

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The Angle being smaller thing is, IMO, the positive finally showing of him leaving the E. The guy is still a fantasitc worker and he doesn't have to be larger than life to pull it off. If he was near death when he gut cut by WWE then we can only look at his TNA run as a success. He's healthier. He's still performing at a top level. And he looks nowhere near death or the destruction that he was rumored to be at. Let's not forget...this was a guy who we read was so far gone that him signing with TNA was a legit shocker. He's OBVIOUSLY changed up his game in the last few years...and like TNA or not...this guy is good. Read into his shrinking what you want...but I think it's good on him.

I totally agree.......it's nothing but a good thing that he is the way he is right now, and it certainly doesn't appear that he's in any sort of health risk at all anymore.

I don't know if you could say that. Certainly, he's not anywhere near as bad as he was towards the end of his WWE run, but even just looking at him now, he's not exactly a picture of health. I think Kurt has done himself so much damage over the years, he's never going to be entirely in the clear, not while he's wrestling anyway. It doesn't help that he still seems intent on taking the same risks now, that he was earlier in his career. There are always stories going around various newssites and publications that he's still struggling physically, and he's not in great shape at all.

I think, to an extent, Kurt's always going to be a health risk, it's just not as bad as it used to be.

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The Angle being smaller thing is, IMO, the positive finally showing of him leaving the E. The guy is still a fantasitc worker and he doesn't have to be larger than life to pull it off. If he was near death when he gut cut by WWE then we can only look at his TNA run as a success. He's healthier. He's still performing at a top level. And he looks nowhere near death or the destruction that he was rumored to be at. Let's not forget...this was a guy who we read was so far gone that him signing with TNA was a legit shocker. He's OBVIOUSLY changed up his game in the last few years...and like TNA or not...this guy is good. Read into his shrinking what you want...but I think it's good on him.

I totally agree.......it's nothing but a good thing that he is the way he is right now, and it certainly doesn't appear that he's in any sort of health risk at all anymore.

I don't know if you could say that. Certainly, he's not anywhere near as bad as he was towards the end of his WWE run, but even just looking at him now, he's not exactly a picture of health. I think Kurt has done himself so much damage over the years, he's never going to be entirely in the clear, not while he's wrestling anyway. It doesn't help that he still seems intent on taking the same risks now, that he was earlier in his career. There are always stories going around various newssites and publications that he's still struggling physically, and he's not in great shape at all.

I think, to an extent, Kurt's always going to be a health risk, it's just not as bad as it used to be.

I'm missing where he looks unhealthy, since to me he just looks small, not anemic or anything. Just because he's not juiced up and huge means he's struggling physically?

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The Angle being smaller thing is, IMO, the positive finally showing of him leaving the E. The guy is still a fantasitc worker and he doesn't have to be larger than life to pull it off. If he was near death when he gut cut by WWE then we can only look at his TNA run as a success. He's healthier. He's still performing at a top level. And he looks nowhere near death or the destruction that he was rumored to be at. Let's not forget...this was a guy who we read was so far gone that him signing with TNA was a legit shocker. He's OBVIOUSLY changed up his game in the last few years...and like TNA or not...this guy is good. Read into his shrinking what you want...but I think it's good on him.

I totally agree.......it's nothing but a good thing that he is the way he is right now, and it certainly doesn't appear that he's in any sort of health risk at all anymore.

I don't know if you could say that. Certainly, he's not anywhere near as bad as he was towards the end of his WWE run, but even just looking at him now, he's not exactly a picture of health. I think Kurt has done himself so much damage over the years, he's never going to be entirely in the clear, not while he's wrestling anyway. It doesn't help that he still seems intent on taking the same risks now, that he was earlier in his career. There are always stories going around various newssites and publications that he's still struggling physically, and he's not in great shape at all.

I think, to an extent, Kurt's always going to be a health risk, it's just not as bad as it used to be.

I'm missing where he looks unhealthy, since to me he just looks small, not anemic or anything. Just because he's not juiced up and huge means he's struggling physically?

Have you seen his arms? It would be a stretch to say he's healthy. I'm not arguing he's less healthy since slimming down, just that in general his body is still in quite bad shape.

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The Angle being smaller thing is, IMO, the positive finally showing of him leaving the E. The guy is still a fantasitc worker and he doesn't have to be larger than life to pull it off. If he was near death when he gut cut by WWE then we can only look at his TNA run as a success. He's healthier. He's still performing at a top level. And he looks nowhere near death or the destruction that he was rumored to be at. Let's not forget...this was a guy who we read was so far gone that him signing with TNA was a legit shocker. He's OBVIOUSLY changed up his game in the last few years...and like TNA or not...this guy is good. Read into his shrinking what you want...but I think it's good on him.

I totally agree.......it's nothing but a good thing that he is the way he is right now, and it certainly doesn't appear that he's in any sort of health risk at all anymore.

I don't know if you could say that. Certainly, he's not anywhere near as bad as he was towards the end of his WWE run, but even just looking at him now, he's not exactly a picture of health. I think Kurt has done himself so much damage over the years, he's never going to be entirely in the clear, not while he's wrestling anyway. It doesn't help that he still seems intent on taking the same risks now, that he was earlier in his career. There are always stories going around various newssites and publications that he's still struggling physically, and he's not in great shape at all.

I think, to an extent, Kurt's always going to be a health risk, it's just not as bad as it used to be.

I'm missing where he looks unhealthy, since to me he just looks small, not anemic or anything. Just because he's not juiced up and huge means he's struggling physically?

Come on, RedJed, you don't need to bring up steroids. A lot of guys on here read the dirtsheets and want to believe 99% of it as fact, and the fact is that in these dirtsheets, for the better part of his TNA run, they've said he's not doing well at all. Sure, the limited schedule probably works in his favor, but I also agree with MillenniumMan about the Paul Orndorff type injury. Guys can keep their arms big after stopping steroids, but his just look weak and frail.

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Have any of you ever seen the movie "Demonicus?" If you haven't, don't bother. It's hideous and looks like it was made on a budget of about $40 during the Halloween season with the costumes being bought from a local K-Mart "Seasonal Section."

The main character in that movie, however, looks like Brutus Magnus. Same gimmick and everything. They both look like they bought Gladiator Halloween costumes.

That being said, the last episode of iMPACT! that I watched was easily the most I've enjoyed the program in a long, long time. I thought the big ass battle royal was entertaining. I dug the sitdown interview with Beer Money & Team 3D. I even liked the random Suicide match if for no other reason than because Suicide seems to be getting over. His ending spot at the PPV was bad ass.

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I don't think I have missed any shows. Was there ever officially an end to the Front Line, or did they (theoretically, off screen) just say, "Fuck it, the MEM beats us every time; let's just go our separate ways"?